Who knew there was a latent thespian beneath Rickie Fowler’s well-coiffed veneer? After watching this video, you see that his acting chops really do live up to his good looks. Mercedes Benz tasks him with opening a fridge chock full of nothing but Masters-issued pimento sandwiches and water. This is not the nutritious or varied diet most of us would dream of, but Rickie seems to find it all ambrosial. There is no way he could be faking the pure, eye-rolling ecstasy of biting into the first plastic loaf here, or is there?

The most eminent of golfers have definitely been hamming it up for the small screen of late. Being the best golfer around, Jordan Spieth is a popular candidate, even if he doesn’t quite have Rickie Fowler’s on-screen charisma. I mean, if he wasn’t Jordan Spieth, would you be bothered with this awkward yawnfest of a Coca-Cola ad? We didn’t think so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09HzmrlXUBo

Luckily, he does do a bit better with this Sports Center Commercial, where he agonizes over eating a bowl of mac and cheese as his caddy anxiously switches out utensils for him. Maybe a little strange for some, but we think that Spieth’s serious, deadpan demeanor kind of works in this little tidbit of absurdist humor.

Maybe you’ll argue that all golfers need to be able to do is golf, so the rest of it’s pretty irrelevant. But as the face of golf continues to change incrementally, golfers have a new audience to reach now. No longer are we content with them remaining aloof champions from us, their limited fanbase of older white males. We’re a much younger, more dynamic crowd and we are hankering to get to know our idols as people.

That’s why Rory McIlroy wins hearts around the world for directly engaging with fans on social media, giving out goodies to lucky commenters and tweeting cheeky workout videos to rib the likes of Brandel Chamblee. And it’s definitely why we’re all so titillated when Rickie and Jordan deal swift justice to internet trolls. We demand to know our golfers as people and it’s high time they delivered on that front. Maybe we aren’t really getting their “true selves”, as might be expected from any public figure. But the mere fact that they are attempting to reach us through these sometimes bizarre ads shows they are understanding the importance of getting somewhat personal with a new generation of golf watchers.

With this in mind, it’s time golfers got a little more comfortable with being slightly more revealing with their fans. Whether this is through becoming more comfortable and charismatic off course (we’re looking at that Coke commercial, Jordan Spieth) or simply following Rory’s lead and trolling big-time golf analysts, we’re all rearing to see them morph from world class golfers into actual people.